What is the racial climate in MA?

[lorilou]

Originally Posted by Bevsdad

I guess all the problems in African American communities across the country are the parents fault. Sure, let's blame the single moms out there working in menial jobs to put a roof over their kids head and food on the table. Sorry, but that is too simplistic an answer to a complex societal problem.

The response you offered makes me believe you grew up in a nurturing environment and don't really understand what it's like to grow up in a community where more than half the teenagers have quit school. When the mass reaches that level, crime becomes an easier option than the minimum wage jobs available to dropouts. Petty crime escalates in short order to more significant crime, significant crime means guns. Add in drugs and it become's a cesspool of violence and senseless death.

Charlestown had always been a blue collar community with alchoholism as a central theme. Generations of kids grew up there in dysfunctional families and went on to be very productive members of society. It was the generation that had the bussing era foisted on them that failed so miserably. We can blame the moms, we can blame the churches, or we can look at the realities of what caused this blip on a long history of kids rising up from poverty to become solid citizens. That generation of children was thrown under the bus by Judge Garrity and his cohorts and the sad part of the story is, no one benefitted. Not one group that was involved saw their position in life improved. Like Housing projects, bussing was a public policy disaster!

This one is for Bevsdad & Movingforward.
I think both of you make fine points in your arguments. The truth lies right in the middle. There are many threads in this forum that relate to racism in MA and elsewhere, and sometimes it's depressing to fully understand that we humans, and particularly we Americans, are still stuck on skin color. I think the answer to the societal problems we see are mainly due to poverty.
Poverty, at the very core, can be blamed for almost all of the detrimental conditions that you are both discussing. Of course there are exceptions! And we call these people heroes, as we well should. Imagine how hard it would be to live under those conditions and stay focused on school work. I think you find higher instances of drug/alcohol abuse, crime, family abuse & all the dysfunction that comes with that...all of those things run rampant in low income families (again, not all). Poverty is stressful.
I think people often try to feel better about themselves by finding someone they believe is "lower" than them. This is human nature, and it's a rather low form of our nature, if you ask me. That's where racism comes from, and it's sad that so many people can't see that for what it is...and then stop doing it. I have always found that most racists are insecure about themselves or their own backgrounds to begin with, even when they don't realize it.

[alouiseh]

Count me in!!! I am ready to move!!! Diversity means DIVIde!!Got it? Diversity ruins the neighborhood. Sorry. It is true. Wake up, America.

[willdufauve]

Originally Posted by alouiseh

Count me in!!! I am ready to move!!! Diversity means DIVIde!!Got it? Diversity ruins the neighborhood. Sorry. It is true. Wake up, America.

Actually, you are illiterate. Diversity doesn't mean DIVIde. It's a noun meaning "variety" or "difference."

But, I would welcome you to Massachusetts where you can enjoy having an African-American Governor, fully legal gay marriage, and, pretty soon, an African-American President. Even you can be counted in!

[DonnaReed]

Originally Posted by MovingForward

Bevsdad: Again--with all respect due--you would be wrong on a number of counts. I and my siblings grew up, in fact, in a very depressed area, often without even our most basic needs met. Drugs were all around, as was teenage pregnancy, single mothers, etc. Almost without exception, those who made it out did so because they had a good family. And "good family" has nothing to do with money, but everything to do with values. I do not dispute that African American communities have been left high and dry. But to blame all the problems in those communities on bussing or racism is myopic, in my view. Because it doesn't explain how it is that so many African Americans--even ones from those communities--*don't* end up involved in drugs, etc. Neither does it explain the profound poverty and violence to be found in many impoverished white communities. Everything can't be boiled down to race. Racism is a factor--no doubt about it--but only one of many. As for the specific situation of bussing in Boston--total nightmare, I agree.

I don't think we can always blame the goodness or badness of "family" for folks who are and aren't successful in life.

Although instilling values is the preferred and "greater chance" upbringing, let's face it, there are plenty of kids from families with "values" who make unwise to downright reckless choices in their lives.

In addition, I think a "good family" as the difference between folks who rise above poverty and those who do not is not only simplistic, it's truly a false notion. There are many reasons/factors which contribute to the reality of the saying: "The rich get richer and the poor get poorer."

If a "good family" (however one defines it) were the difference, there would far less folks living in poverty.

Furthermore, the "good family" phrase is rather bogus overall for me personally.

It's often used in the media to refer to white youngsters from middle class backgrounds who get into trouble and/or commit crimes, at least as an initial description and that's for anything from suicide to bombs to shooting up schools.

[MovingForward]

Originally Posted by DonnaReed

I don't think we can always blame the goodness or badness of "family" for folks who are and aren't successful in life.

Although instilling values is the preferred and "greater chance" upbringing, let's face it, there are plenty of kids from families with "values" who make unwise to downright reckless choices in their lives.

In addition, I think a "good family" as the difference between folks who rise above poverty and those who do not is not only simplistic, it's truly a false notion. There are many reasons/factors which contribute to the reality of the saying: "The rich get richer and the poor get poorer."

If a "good family" (however one defines it) were the difference, there would far less folks living in poverty.

Furthermore, the "good family" phrase is rather bogus overall for me personally.

It's often used in the media to refer to white youngsters from middle class backgrounds who get into trouble and/or commit crimes, at least as an initial description and that's for anything from suicide to bombs to shooting up schools.

Clearly, your idea of a "good family" is different than mine. My definition of a "good family" has nothing to do with class or race; it has to do with being raised in a family which offers unconditional love, values education, and invests in their children through discipline and guidance on a daily basis. And I'm very sorry, but having a family like that makes ALL the difference in the world.

[VlyRoadKid]

Seldomseen and others (Shery Tucky Brown:: The "BROWNING of AMERICA???" What the HELL???): your immediate presumption of racial discrimination, not only in Mass. as a whole, but esp in W. Mass. is truly disheartening. It means you EXPECT racial discord, from one end OR FROM ANOTHER--it does go both ways, in case you've forgotten!

This Valley, when I came here in the 1970 to attend one of the finest universitities in the country (UMass/Amherst) had nowhere NEAR the racial/ethic diversity it does now, but it WAS there, and somehow, we, young naive students dealt with AND MADE LIFELONG FRIEND WITH people from all over the country AND THE WORLD without making a big fuss about it! It was what we thought was right...and that was that. Consequently, people in those different parts of the country and the world came to see Amherst, and the Valley in general as a place to come, where they could study, assimilate and make friends WITHOUT racism or anti-ethnic B.S.! I knew many of them, from Pakistan, Thailand, Taiwan, Iran and too many other countries and areas of the U.S. to name.

We ALL got along well, for the most part (with the exception of the odd jerk who had a bug up his a**).

NOW, it seems that EVERYBODY is sizing everybody else up: black, white, Hispanic, bi-racial, Asian and even what ORIGIN of all those you might be. It's STUPID! I'm sure the founding fathers did NOT have this in mind when they imagined our future country and I SURE AS HELL KNOW that the civil rights and anti-war protest leaders did not have this in mind!

I'm stunned that so many of my generation, that could and DID change so many things for the better, are now settling into the same, grumpy, distrustful, B.S., middle-aged ragging and racism that hobbled our parents' generation! Your negative attitudes and presumptions sicken me. No, I'm NOT naive; I KNOW there is racism and that people do get hurt--it has happened to me. But I TRY TO focus on all those I know who have NOT hurt anyone (Both white and people of color), but contribute to the progress of our country...and most of all, to this special place, Massachusetts.

If you EXPECT negative dealings, they will surely find you...or else YOU will make them! That much, you have made abundantly clear! If you TRULY feel that way, then please, move to Ala-Freaking-bama"!!!!

[VlyRoadKid]

Just in case anyone doubts my understanding of the duality of racism, put on a copy of one of my FAVORITE songs, "Rednecks", by Randy Newman...and you'll see that my opinion is NOT one sided--he even mentions "Roxbury in Boston"...awww! Now WHERE would the ghetto in WESTERN Mass. be???

[alouiseh]

You failed to add that MA is also an overly taxed welfare state that is circling the drain. Don't you realize that there isn't one country in the world run by Blacks that functions? Not one.

[gypsy lady]

I am not black, but I am a single white woman. And I have lived in the boston area. From my experience I have never come across so much discrimination in my life. Be it race, money, male/female, etc, as I did in the boston area. It was wide open and out front and nobody cared. I tried a few times to get support to stop it but the people I turned to either did it too or didn't give a damn. The discrimination comes from small minds. Ignorance. Ultimately low self esteem. In boston I expected to find great minds, open thinkers, etc. I found discrimination and a dirty cold city. It was awful. I am not saying don't go, but be aware. Be very aware. Because while I expereinced that till I felt like I was going to pull my hair out I also met people I enjoyed i grew fond of. They talk the talk but didn't walk the walk.

now ... having said that watch me end up having to move back that. omg.


(eek)